Statistically, it couldn't have been much worse for LSU's defense. The Tigers committed five errors, three in the first inning that led to five unearned runs in Saturday's winner's bracket game against Sam Houston State at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

LSU overcame the miscues by rallying for an 8-5 victory against the third-seeded Bearkats, sending the top-seeded Tigers into Sunday night's championship round. LSU will meet the winner of the Sam Houston-University of Louisiana-Lafayette elimination game at 7 p.m. Sam Houston and ULL will play at 2 p.m.

The five errors were the most of the season, the most in a postseason game since 1996 and all Tiger principles said it was sloppy at best. The left side of the Tigers' infield was the chief culprit as third baseman Christian Ibarra and shortstop Alex Bregman committed two apiece.

But there were some defensive efforts that kept the Tigers from getting in a bigger hole and, perhaps, none was bigger than a diving catch by LSU center fielder Andrew Stevenson to end the disastrous first inning.

Sam Houston had already pushed across five runs and had runners on second and third with two outs when leadoff hitter Jessie Plumlee came up for the second time in the inning.

He hit a line drive shot to left center field that looked like it would fall and possibly give the Bearkats two more runs. But Stevenson made a diving catch that ended the inning and held the Sam Houston lead to 5-1.

"There were so many key moments over the course of the game,'' LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said. "Stevenson made a great catch in center field to save a run, and you forget about those. If he doesn't make that catch, I don't know what we do. It was big.''

The Tigers played somewhat better after the first, committing two more errors the rest of the game. And starter Aaron Nola said he never lost confidence in his defense. He pitched six scoreless innings after that and credited the defense in those innings.

So did Sam Houston third baseman Kevin Miller. He said he was impressed by how Nola came back after the first but also how resilient LSU was after falling behind.

"Our plan was to see balls in the zone and drive them (against Nola),'' Miller said. "That is pretty much what we did. We squared up balls (after the first) and they made most of the plays. You have to give them credit.''